On the other hand, there are very narrow holdings where New York's courts extended the non-compete agreements beyond their initial term, but the circumstances were rather extreme. For example, in NewYorkRealEstateInst., Inc. v. Edelman,42A.D. 3d321, 839N.Y.S. 2d488 (1stDept. 2007), the court noted that the “defendanthidhisownershipinterestinthecompeting ... [ business] fortheentiretwo-yeardurationofthenon-competeagreement,”and there was undeniable proof of his conduct of the competing business, a real estate school, for the entire two year period.

Needless to say, adducing the kind of proof marshalled in Edelman is extremely rare. Therefore, under nearly all circumstances, it is rather safe to assume that a court would NOT extend the term of a non-compete agreement in New York.